Author Notes
I decided for supper yesterday that I wanted to make something with carrots and peas because it occurred to me that though my two best friends and I had even dressed up as carrots and peas for Halloween once, I had never actually eaten these two vegetables together!
My first thought was pot pies, but then this quickly turned into the idea of hand pies instead. I love hand pies! I think they're darling - hence the name. And instead of a heavy sauced filling I decided to stuff the pastry (which was an experimental riff off of my standard empanada dough but turned out amazingly flaky and buttery) with a flavorful mix of veggies, feta, roasted garlic, and a bit of dill. The filling also makes a rather nice salad on its own. —fiveandspice
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Ingredients
- Pastry dough
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2 1/4 cups
all purpose flour
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1 teaspoon
salt
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1/2 cup
cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
-
1/4 cup
creme fraiche
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1 tablespoon
white vinegar
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1/3 cup
plus a couple extra Tbs. ice cold water
-
1
egg, lightly beaten for an egg wash
- Carrot filling
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1 pound
carrots, peeled and cut into small chunks or coins
-
1 tablespoon
olive oil
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1
smallish head of garlic (10 cloves or so), cloves separated but left in their skins
-
1 cup
peas, fresh if in season otherwise frozen peas that have been defrosted and lightly dried
-
6 ounces
crumbled feta
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2 tablespoons
chopped fresh dill
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sea salt and fresh ground pepper
Directions
- Pastry dough
-
In a food processor, pulse together the dry ingredients for the dough. Then quickly pulse in the butter until the mixture looks like a very coarse meal - the pieces of butter should still be about pea sized.
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Add in the creme fraiche and 1/3 cup ice water, and vinegar pulse. Add a little more water, 1 Tbs. at a time until everything just comes together to form a shaggy messy dough. Then scoop the dough out and form it into a ball. Flatten the dough into a disc, cover it with plastic wrap, and chill for an hour in the refrigerator.
- Carrot filling
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While your dough is chilling, heat your oven to 400F. Toss the carrot pieces with the olive oil and spread on a baking sheet. Add the garlic cloves as well. Roast, stirring occasionally, until the carrots and garlic are just tender, about 25 minutes.
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Transfer the carrots to a bowl and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Squeeze in the roasted garlic. Then, toss the carrots and garlic with the peas, feta, and dill. Season with a little salt and pepper to taste.
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On a lightly floured surface roll the dough out into a big old rectangle about 1/8th of an inch thick. Obviously you cannot really roll a perfect rectangle, so either a bit of dough trimming will be in order or you can just make slightly unevenly edged hand pies (which is what I usually do because I kind of like that look). Cut the dough in half horizontally, then into 4ths vertically to make 8 smaller rectangles.
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Place a scoop of filling on one end of each of the rectangles. Then, fold the other side over and seal the edges, using a bit of water on your finger tips to help it to seal, to make little stuffed pockets. Transfer the pockets to parchment lined baking sheets. Use a knife to make 1 or 2 little slashes in each pie to act as air vents. Then brush all of the hand pies with the egg wash.
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Bake in the 400F degree oven for 20-25 minutes until golden and flaky. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes, then serve.
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